08 December 2023
Universities Eschew Political Correctness
The testimony to the US Congress on 7 December 2023 by the presidents of three prestigious universities displayed their conviction that the standard for university behavior is not Political Correctness. Politicians must adhere to common public opinion to preserve their jobs. Institutions of higher learning celebrate their protection of academic freedom, regardless of popular sentiments, including ethnic and religious prejudices.
The presidents’ failure unequivocally to condemn antisemitism on their campuses demonstrates the difference between academic freedom and political correctness. Those three women must have known they were stepping on a hornet’s nest by testifying on camera. As was probably their intention, the world-wide esteem of US universities escaped unharmed when those women refused to play their inquisitor’s crowd-pleasing game.And yet, the university is not exempt from honoring society’s principles of civility or the rule of its law. Thus, when advocacy, not just the practice, of discrimination on its campus threatens the well-being of anyone’s rights, the university cannot hide behind its commitment to academic freedom and avoid condemning such actions. This is a difficult distinction for any university to make. However, it is the executives and professors at our universities whom we must rely on to possess the intellectual strength to navigate that course.
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